Not sure. Maybe a previous owner?
You gun takes the .38 Special. Its original (and proper) name was ".38 Smith & Wesson Special" since Smith & Wesson introduced the first gun chambered for this cartridge, which differentiated it from the earlier ".38 Smith & Wesson". The .38 S&W Special will not interhange with the .38 S&W.
A shotgun made for Smith and Wesson, sold under the Smith and Wesson name.
The 38 Smith and Wesson Special is the full name for the 38 Special cartridge or revolver caliber with that designation, and so it is the same thing. The 38 Smith and Wesson Special cartridge is not the same as the 38 Smith & Wesson cartridge or 38 Long Colt cartridge, and should not be able to fit into those revolvers, but in rare cases it may, so use caution. (See Related Links)
S&W did not make a firearm with that name.
Third engineering change in the Model 14 line.
smith and wesson
You have a Smith and Wesson model 14 38 special. The 38 refers to the diameter of the barrel. That barrel is 38/100 of an inch in diameter. A 45 automatic has a barrel that is 45/100 of an inch in diameter. A 9mm has a barrel with a 9mm diameter. You can shoot 9mm ammunition from a 38 special. A 22 pistol has a small diameter barrel.
Military and Police
Yes, I believe they did. Answer two: I find no evidence one the list of American Sewing Machine companies or on the wikipedia site. Smith and Wesson currently licenses several products under their brand name, but they are mostly gun accessories and police oriented products such as handcuffs and special bicycles.
No. The Owl's head was the logo of the Iver Johnson company. You MAY see a marking such as .38 S&W CTG- but that marking is the caliber- the revolver shoots a .38 Smith & Wesson cartridge (not a .38 Special). ALL guns that shot THAT cartridge were marked .38 S&W, no matter who made the gun. Smith & Wesson owned the name of the cartridge- they invented it.
At one time S&W had ammunition made with their name on it.
Smith & Wesson is a well known firearms manufacturer based in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. The company was formed by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson. The first weapon the two men produced was a lever-action pistol in 1852, although their company was known as The Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. The first gun produced under the name Smith & Wesson was the Model 1 in 1856.